Some men arrive. They force their way into a family's home,
rich or poor, house, hovel or hut, in a city or in a village,
anywhere. They come at any time of the day or night, usually in
plain clothes, sometimes in uniform, always carrying weapons.
Giving no reasons, producing no arrest warrant, frequently
without saying who they are or on whose authority they are
acting, they drag off one or more members of the family towards a
car, using violence in the process if necessary.*

This is often the first act in the drama of an enforced or
involuntary disappearance, a particularly heinous violation of
human rights. According to the Declaration on the Protection of
All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, proclaimed by the
General Assembly in its resolution 47/133 of 18 December 1992, an
enforced disappearance occurs when "persons are arrested,
detained or abducted against their will or otherwise deprived of
their liberty by officials of different branches or levels of
Government, or by organized groups, or private individuals acting
on behalf of, or with the support, direct or indirect, consent or
acquiescence of the Government, followed by a refusal to disclose
the fate or whereabouts of the persons concerned or a refusal to
acknowledge the deprivation of their liberty, which places such
persons outside the protection of the law."

A disappearance is a doubly paralyzing form of suffering: for
the victims, frequently tortured and in constant fear for their
lives, and for their family members, ignorant of the fate of
their loved ones, their emotions alternating between hope and
despair, wondering and waiting, sometimes for years, for news
that may never come. The victims are well aware that their
families don't know what has become of them and that the chances
are slim that anyone will come to their aid. Having been removed
from the protective precinct of the law and
"disappeared" from society, they are in fact deprived
of all their rights and are at the mercy of their captors. If
death is not the final outcome and they are eventually released
from the nightmare, the victims may suffer a long time from the
physical and psychological consequences of this form of
dehumanization and from the brutality and torture which often
accompany it.

The family and friends of disappeared persons experience slow
mental torture, not knowing whether the victim is still alive
and, if so, where he or she is being held, under what conditions,
and in what state of health. Aware, furthermore, that they too
are threatened; that they may suffer the same fate themselves,
and that to search for the truth may expose them to even greater
danger.

The family's distress is frequently compounded by the material
consequences resulting from the disappearance. The missing person
is often the mainstay of the family's finances. He or she may be
the only member of the family able to cultivate the crops or run
the family business. The emotional upheaval is thus exacerbated
by material deprivation, made more acute by the costs incurred
should they decide to undertake a search. Furthermore, they do
not know when -- if ever -- their loved one is going to return,
which makes it difficult for them to adapt to the new situation.
In some cases, national legislation may make it impossible to
receive pensions or other means of support in the absence of a
certificate of death. Economic and social marginalization are
frequently the result.

______________

*Report entitled "Disappeared Technique of Terror",
prepared by the Independent Commission on International
Humanitarian Issues, London, 1986 [back to the text].

The practice of enforced disappearance of persons infringes
upon an entire range of human rights embodied in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and set out in both International
Covenants on Human Rights as well as in other major international
human rights instruments.

Disappearances can also involve serious violations of the
Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, approved
by the United Nations Economic and Social Council in 1957, as
well as in the Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials and
the Body of Principals for the Protection of All Persons under
Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment, adopted by the General
Assembly in 1979 and 1988 respectively. The following individual
rights may also be infringed upon in the course of a
disappearance:

The right to recognition as a person before the law;

The right to liberty and the security of the person;

The right not to be subjected to torture and other cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;

The right to life;

Disappearances generally violate the right to a family life as
well as various economic, social and cultural rights such as the
right to an adequate standard of living and the right to
education. In fact, it has been found that the disappearance of
the family's main economic support, particularly in less affluent
societies, frequently leaves the family in a desperate
socio-economic situation in which the majority of the rights
enumerated in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights cannot be realized.

The serious economic hardships which usually accompany a
disappearance are most often borne by women. When women are the
victims of disappearance they become particularly vulnerable to
sexual and other forms of violence. In addition, it is women who
are most often at the forefront of the struggle to resolve the
disappearances of members of their family. In this capacity they
may suffer intimidation, persecution and reprisals.

Children are also involved in disappearances, both directly
and indirectly. The disappearance of a child is a clear
contravention of a number of provisions of the Convention on the
Rights of the Child, including the right to a personal identity.
The loss of a parent through disappearance is also a serious
violation of a child's human rights.

Given the grave nature of disappearances, the United Nations
General Assembly devoted particular attention to this odious
phenomenon. In 1979, in resolution 33/173 entitled
"Disappeared persons", in which it expressed concern
over reports from various parts of the world relating to enforced
or involuntary disappearances of persons, the Assembly requested
the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to consider the
question and to make appropriate recommendations. At that time
the Assembly also called upon Governments to devote appropriate
resources to undertake rapid and impartial investigations into
cases of enforced or involuntary disappearances and to ensure
that law enforcement and security authorities were fully
accountable, especially in law, in the discharge of their duties.
Such accountability would include legal responsibility for
unjustifiable excesses which might lead to enforced or
involuntary disappearances and to other violations of human
rights.

By resolution 20 (XXXVI) of 29 February 1980, the Commission
on Human Rights decided to "establish for a period of one
year a working group consisting of five of its members, to serve
as experts in their individual capacities, to examine questions
relevant to enforced or involuntary disappearances of
persons". Since then, the mandate and terms of reference of
the Working Group have been renewed by the Commission and
approved by the Economic and Social Council each year. Since 1986
this has been done biennially and, since 1992, on a three-yearly
basis.

The establishment in 1980 of the Working Group on Enforced or
Involuntary Disappearances by the Commission on Human Rights,
inspired by the General Assembly, was the first thematic
mechanism set up within the framework of the United Nations Human
Rights Programme to deal with specific violations of human rights
of a particularly serious nature occurring on a global scale.
Previous to that, working groups and special rapporteurs had been
appointed only to deal with the human rights situation in a given
country or territory.

Subsequent years have seen the establishment, by the
Commission or the Secretary- General, of other so-called thematic
procedures in related fields, such as the appointment of special
rapporteurs/representatives on extrajudicial, summary or
arbitrary executions; the question of torture; the independence
of judges and lawyers; internally displaced persons; freedom of
opinion and expression; violence against women; intolerance and
discrimination based on religion or belief; racism, racial
discrimination and xenophobia; the effects of toxic and dangerous
products on the enjoyment of human rights; the sale of children,
child prostitution and child pornography; the use of mercenaries;
and the establishment of the Working Group on Arbitrary
Detention.

Since its inception, the Working Group on Enforced or
Involuntary Disappearances has dealt with some 50,000 individual
cases pertaining to more than 70 countries. For reasons well
beyond the scope of the Working Group, only a fraction of those
cases have been clarified. Nevertheless, the extent to which the
Working Group, through its patient and persistent contacts with
the Governments concerned, may have prevented more cases from
occurring cannot be quantified. The fact that it was able to
contribute to the clarification of cases, especially within the
framework of its urgent action procedure (see below), and thus
possibly to the saving of human lives, has been considered
sufficient reason for its continued activity. Moreover, the
mechanism of the Working Group should be seen as a reflection of
international concern and action. It should equally be seen as
forming part of a long-term process leading to the elimination of
major human rights violations, a process which includes the
creation of widespread public awareness of human rights-related
issues and the provision of advisory services and technical
assistance to Governments for the promotion and protection of
human rights.

In its annual resolutions on the subject the Commission on
Human Rights has endorsed the Working Group's methods of work and
the humanitarian spirit underlying its mandate. It has urged the
Governments concerned to take steps to protect the families of
disappeared persons against any intimidation or ill-treatment to
which they might be subjected and encouraged them to give serious
consideration to inviting the Working Group to visit their
country. It also stressed the importance of publicizing the
objectives, procedures and methods of the Working Group within
the framework of the information activities of the United Nations
Centre for Human Rights.

The Commission has also requested the Working Group to take
action in connection with acts of intimidation or reprisals
against relatives of missing persons and private individuals or
groups who seek to cooperate or have cooperated with United
Nations human rights bodies, or who have provided testimony or
information to them, as well as persons who avail or have availed
themselves of procedures established under United Nations
auspices for the protection of human rights and fundamental
freedoms or persons who have provided legal assistance to others
for that purpose.

The Working Group's basic mandate is to assist the relatives
of disappeared persons to ascertain the fate and whereabouts of
their missing family members. For this purpose the Group receives
and examines reports of disappearances submitted by relatives of
missing persons or human rights organizations acting on their
behalf. After determining whether those reports comply with a
number of criteria, the Working Group transmits individual cases
to the Governments concerned, requesting them to carry out
investigations and to inform the Working Group of the results.
The Working Group deals with the numerous individual cases of
human rights violations on a purely humanitarian basis,
irrespective of whether the Government concerned has ratified any
of the existing legal instruments which provide for an individual
complaints procedure. It acts essentially as a channel of
communication between the families of missing persons and
Governments, and has successfully developed a dialogue with the
majority of Governments concerned with the aim of solving cases
of disappearance.

With a view to preventing irreparable damage, the Working
Group has also established an urgent action procedure under which
the Working Group's Chairman is authorized to act on reported
cases of disappearance occurring in between the Group's sessions,
thus helping to avoid any delays in its attempts to save lives.

Cases of intimidation, persecution or reprisals against
relatives of missing persons, witnesses to disappearances or
their families, members of organizations of relatives and other
non-governmental organizations or individuals concerned with
disappearances are also transmitted to the pertinent Governments,
with an appeal to take the necessary steps to protect all the
fundamental rights of the persons concerned.

The Working Group meets three times a year for five to eight
working days, once in New York and twice in Geneva. The Group's
meetings are held in private. However, the Working Group
regularly invites representatives of Governments,
non-governmental organizations, family members and witnesses to
meet with it. Following each session, the Working Group informs
Governments, in writing, of decisions taken with regard to
disappearances in their country. It reminds Governments, at least
once a year, of the total number of cases transmitted in the past
which have not yet been clarified. Twice a year it reminds
Governments of urgent action cases sent during the preceding six
months for which no clarification has been received.

The Working Group reports annually to the Commission on Human
Rights on the activities it has carried out since the
Commission's previous session, up until the last day of the
Working Group's third annual session. It informs the Commission
of its communications with Governments and non-governmental
organizations, its meetings and its missions. The Working Group
reports on all cases of disappearance received by the Group
during the year, on a country-by-country basis, and on the
decisions it has taken thereon. It provides the Commission with a
statistical summary for each country of cases transmitted to the
Government, clarifications made and the status of the person
concerned on the date of clarification. It includes graphs
showing the development of the phenomenon of disappearance in
countries with more than 50 transmitted cases, up to the date of
the adoption by the Working Group of its annual report. The
Working Group includes conclusions and recommendations in its
report, and makes observations on the situation of disappearances
in individual countries. Since 1993, the Group also has reported
on the implementation of the Declaration on the Protection of All
Persons from Enforced Disappearance and the obstacles encountered
therein, and periodically reports on broader issues surrounding
the phenomenon of disappearance.

The methods of work of the Working Group are based on its
mandate as stipulated in Commission on Human Rights resolution 20
(XXXVI) and are specifically geared to its main objective: to
assist families in determining the fate and whereabouts of their
missing relatives who, having disappeared, are outside the
protection of the law. To this end, the Working Group endeavours
to establish a channel of communication between the families and
the Governments concerned, seeking to ensure that sufficiently
documented and clearly identified individual cases which the
families, directly or indirectly, have brought to the Working
Group's attention are investigated and the whereabouts of the
missing person clarified.

The Working Group's role ends when the fate and whereabouts of
the missing person have been clearly established as a result of
investigations by the Government or the family, irrespective of
whether that person is alive or dead. At that point the Working
Group no longer concerns itself with the question of determining
responsibility for specific cases of disappearance or for other
human rights violations which may have occurred in the course of
a disappearance; its work on this individual level is of a
strictly humanitarian nature.

The Working Group's action is based on the principle that the
State is responsible for human rights violations committed within
its territory and is obligated to prevent such violations or to
investigate them when they have occurred. As with all other
situations of State responsibility, such responsibility continues
to exist irrespective of changes of Government.

The Working Group does not deal with situations of
international armed conflict, in view of the competence of the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in such
situations, as determined by the Geneva Conventions of 12 August
1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977. Further information
on these conventions may be found in Fact Sheet No. 13:
International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights.

In considering cases of disappearance, the Working Group deals
exclusively with Governments because, as explained above,
Governments must, as a matter of principle, assume responsibility
for violations of human rights occurring on their territory. The
Working Group will not consider cases of abductions which are not
directly or indirectly attributable to a Government. It will
therefore not process individual cases of disappearances
perpetrated by irregular or insurgent groups fighting a
Government on its own territory. Nevertheless, when studying the
situation of disappearances in a particular country or examining
the phenomenon of disappearance in a general way, the Working
Group considers that information on all disappearances is
relevant to a proper evaluation.

For a report of a disappearance to be considered admissible by
the Working Group, it must originate from the family or friends
of the missing person. Such reports may also be channelled to the
Working Group through representatives of the family, Governments,
intergovernmental organizations, humanitarian organizations and
other reliable sources. They must be submitted in writing with a
clear indication of the identity of the sender. If the source is
other than a family member, it must be in a position to follow up
with the relatives of the disappeared person concerning his or
her fate.

In order to enable the Governments named in the reports to
carry out meaningful investigations, the Working Group provides
them with information containing at least a minimum of basic
data. In addition, the Working Group constantly urges the sources
of reports to furnish as many details as possible on the identity
of the missing person (even, if available, the identity card
number) and the circumstances of the disappearance. The following
minimum elements are required:

Full name of the missing person;

Date of disappearance, i.e. day, month and year of arrest
or abduction or day, month and year when the missing
person was last seen. If the missing person was last seen
in a detention centre, an approximate indication is
sufficient;

Place of arrest or abduction or where the missing person
was last seen (at least an indication of the town or
village);

Parties presumed to have carried out the arrest or
abduction or to hold the missing person in unacknowledged
detention; and,

Steps taken to determine the fate or whereabouts of the
missing person, or at least an indication that efforts to
use domestic remedies were frustrated or otherwise
inconclusive.

Reported cases of disappearance are placed before the Working
Group for detailed examination during its sessions. Those which
fulfil the requirements as outlined above are transmitted, with
the Working Group's specific authorization, to the Governments
concerned, with a request to carry out investigations and to
inform the Working Group of the results.

The cases are normally communicated by letter from the Working
Group's Chairman to the Government concerned through that
Government's Permanent Representative to the United Nations.
However, cases that occurred within three months preceding the
receipt of the report of the disappearance by the Working Group
are transmitted directly to the Minister for Foreign Affairs of
the country concerned by the most direct and rapid means. This is
referred to as the urgent action procedure. Such communications
can be authorized by the Chairman on the basis of specific
authority delegated to him by the Working Group. Cases which
occurred prior to the three-months limit but not more than one
year before the date of their receipt by the secretariat can be
transmitted between sessions by letter, upon authorization by the
Chairman, provided that they have some connection with a case
which occurred within the three-month period.

Reports indicating that officials from more than one country
were directly responsible for or involved in a disappearance are
communicated to both the Government of the country where the
disappearance occurred and the Government of the country whose
officials or agents were alleged to have participated in the
arrest or abduction of the missing person. However, in any
general evaluation of disappearances in a given country which may
be made, such cases are attributed to the country in which the
person was reportedly held in detention or last seen.

In cases of the disappearance of a pregnant woman, the child
presumed to have been born during the mother's captivity is
mentioned in the description of the mother's case. The child is
treated as a separate case when witnesses have reported that the
mother actually gave birth during her detention.

The Working Group reminds every Government concerned at least
once a year of the cases which have not yet been clarified, and
twice a year of all urgent action cases transmitted during the
preceding six months for which no clarification has been
received. Furthermore, at any time during the year any Government
may request, in writing, the summaries of cases that the Group
has transmitted to it.

Any reply from the Government containing detailed information
on the fate and whereabouts of a disappeared person is
transmitted to the source. If the source does not respond within
six months of the date on which the Government's reply was
communicated to it, or if it contests the Government's
information on grounds which are considered unreasonable by the
Working Group, the case is considered clarified and is
accordingly listed under the heading "Cases clarified by the
Government's response" in the statistical summary of the
annual report. If the source contests the Government's
information on reasonable grounds, the Government is so informed
and asked to comment.

If the source provides well-documented information that a case
has erroneously been considered clarified because the
Government's reply referred to a different person, does not
correspond to the reported situation or has not reached the
source within the six-month period described above, the Working
Group resubmits the case to the Government, requesting it to
comment. In such instances the case is again listed among the
unclarified cases and a specific explanation of the situation is
given in the Working Group's report to the Commission on Human
Rights, indicating the errors or discrepancies.

Any additional substantive information which the source
submits on an outstanding case is placed before the Working Group
and, following its approval, transmitted to the Government
concerned. If the additional information received amounts to a
clarification of the case, the Government is so informed.

The Working Group retains cases in its files as long as the
exact whereabouts of the missing persons have not been
determined. It maintains that the State's responsibility for
disappearances continues to exist irrespective of changes of
Government, even though the new Government shows greater respect
for human rights than the Government in power at the time the
violations occurred. The Working Group will agree to close a case
in its files when the competent authority specified in the
relevant national law pronounces, with the concurrence of the
relatives and other interested parties, that the person reported
missing is presumed dead. In exceptional circumstances the
Working Group may decide to discontinue consideration of a case
which the families have decided not to pursue, or where the
source is no longer in existence or unable to follow up the case.

While the Working Group's mandate does not extend beyond the
stage at which a disappeared person's fate is made known, other
human rights procedures of the United Nations can take up where
the Working Group leaves off. If the reply from the Government
concerned clearly indicates that the missing person has been
found dead, tortured, in arbitrary but acknowledged detention, or
to be a victim of other human rights violations for which
government officials or groups or individuals linked to them are
allegedly responsible, the case is brought to the attention of
the appropriate mechanism or body.

The Working Group is also concerned with the protection of
relatives of missing persons, their legal counsel, witnesses to
disappearances or their family, members of organizations of
relatives and other non-governmental organizations or individuals
concerned with disappearances.

In cases of persecution, intimidation or reprisals against
these persons, the Working Group contacts the Government
concerned with the appeal that they take all necessary steps to
protect the fundamental rights of the persons concerned and to
investigate the case thoroughly in order to put an end to the
intimidation or reprisals.

Prompt intervention is often required to protect relatives,
witnesses and other persons involved in a disappearance.
Allegations of intimidation, persecution or reprisals are
transmitted directly to the relevant Ministers of Foreign Affairs
by the most direct and rapid means. The Working Group has
authorized its Chairman to transmit such information between
sessions.

On 18 December 1992 the General Assembly, by resolution
47/133, proclaimed the Declaration on the Protection of All
Persons from Enforced Disappearance. The Working Group, which
participated actively in the elaboration of the Declaration,
welcomed it as a milestone in the united efforts to combat the
practice of disappearance and considered that it constituted an
important basis for its own future work. Many proposals and
recommendations which the Working Group had adopted over the
years and published in its annual reports were reflected in the
Declaration.

According to the Declaration, the systematic practice of
disappearance is of the nature of a crime against humanity and
constitutes a violation of the right to recognition as a person
before the law, the right to liberty and security of the person,
and the right not to be subjected to torture; it also violates or
constitutes a grave threat to the right to life. States are under
an obligation to take effective legislative, administrative,
judicial or other measures to prevent and terminate acts of
enforced disappearance, in particular to make them continuing
offences under criminal law and to establish civil liability.

The Declaration also refers to the right to a prompt and
effective judicial remedy as well as unhampered access by
national authorities to all places of detention, the right to
habeas corpus, the maintenance of centralized registers of all
persons in detention, the duty to investigate fully all alleged
cases of disappearance, the duty to try alleged perpetrators of
disappearances before ordinary (not military) courts, the
exemption of the criminal offence of acts of enforced
disappearance from ordinary statutes of limitations and special
amnesty laws and similar measures which might lead to impunity.

The World Conference on Human Rights, held at Vienna from 14
to 25 June 1993, welcomed the adoption of the Declaration by the
General Assembly and called upon all States "to take
effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures
to prevent, terminate and punish acts of enforced
disappearances". The World Conference reaffirmed that
"it is the duty of all States, under any circumstances, to
make investigations whenever there is reason to believe that an
enforced disappearance has taken place on a territory under their
jurisdiction and, if allegations are confirmed, to prosecute its
perpetrators".

Since 1993, the Commission on Human Rights has regularly
adopted resolutions in which it invited all Governments to take
appropriate legislative or other steps to prevent and punish the
practice of enforced disappearances, with special reference to
the Declaration, and to take action to that end nationally,
regionally and in cooperation with the United Nations. In the
same resolutions, the Commission requested the Working Group to
take into account the provisions of the Declaration, and invited
it to cite in future reports any obstacles to the proper
application of the Declaration and to recommend means of
overcoming them.

Despite various efforts by the Working Group to remind
Governments of their obligation to implement the provisions of
the Declaration by taking appropriate legislative,
administrative, judicial or other measures, very little progress
has been made in practice. With some exceptions, States have not
begun to take consistent steps to incorporate the principles set
out in the Declaration in their national legislation. The Working
Group has repeatedly stressed that the obligation to implement
the Declaration applies not only to States where acts of enforced
disappearances actually occurred in the past or have continued up
to the present day; in particular, legislative and other
preventive measures shall be taken by all States in order to
ensure that acts of disappearance will not occur in the future.

The Working Group regularly transmits to the Governments
concerned a summary of allegations received from relatives of
missing persons and non-governmental organizations with regard to
violations of the Declaration in their respective country,
inviting them to comment thereon if they so wish.

The full text of the Declaration is reproduced in the annex to
this Fact Sheet.

Information on the enforced or involuntary disappearance of a
person may be submitted in any written form -- in urgent cases
preferably by telefax -- to:

The Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances
of the Commission on Human Rights
United Nations High Commissioner/Centre for Human Rights
United Nations
1211 Geneva 10
Switzerland
Fax No. (41 22) 917.0092

The report must clearly identify the person or organization
making it and must include a contact address. When a case is
submitted by a non-governmental organization, the Working Group
requires it to act directly or indirectly at the request of the
family or friends of the victim. It is necessary for the
submitting organization to remain in contact with the family or
friends in order to be able to forward to them any information it
receives on the results of the Working Group's endeavours.

As is explained more fully above, a report should contain the
following minimum information:

Full name;
Day, month and year of disappearance;
Place of disappearance;
Those considered responsible;

Information about any search which has been made.

Experience has shown that information on the enforced or
involuntary disappearance of a person varies greatly in detail by
reason of the nature of each case and the surrounding
circumstances. Forms designed to assist relatives in formulating
reports on disappearances can be obtained from the United Nations
High Commissioner/Centre for Human Rights. While it is important
to receive as much information as possible, missing details
should not prevent the submission of reports. However, the
Working Group can only process clearly identified individual
cases containing the minimum elements of information outlined in
section II.

(c) Copyright 1997
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Geneva, Switzerland